What is hypnosis and self-hypnosis? Hypnosis is a popular method of psychotherapy. This word translates from Greek as “sleep,” but hypnosis is not literally such. During sleep, the human brain “switches” to energy—saving mode, but in the hypnotized state it is in active and narrowly focused wakefulness – that is, it focuses on what the hypnologist or the person himself suggests to it, and gives the body commands to carry out the suggestion. Many people think that there is a difference between the influence exerted by a specialist and self-hypnosis. However, some experts agree that hypnosis and all its types are nothing more than self—hypnosis. A hypnotherapist can help you tune in and enter a trance, but the whole situation is controlled by the person himself. Thus, self—hypnosis is the conscious and controlled ability of a person to immerse himself in a hypnotic state through autosuggestion — the introduction of certain commands and attitudes into his own brain. According to the Doctor of medical Sciences, psychotherapist Sergey Viktorovich Umansky, a person using self-hypnosis can mobilize their internal resources in order to achieve a positive effect, including wellness. Contrary to fears, self-hypnosis does not suppress self-control at all, but, on the contrary, strengthens it, since in this state a person can focus his attention much more deeply on a problematic situation, considering and analyzing it from different angles. Thus, with the help of hypnotic suggestion, you can unlock your potential, increase your protective abilities and form psychological stability in the face of negative life events. According to experts, it is worthwhile to resort to the technique of self-hypnosis only after the doctor makes a medical diagnosis and gives certain recommendations. It is also important that he monitors changes in health throughout the entire period of using the practice. To help with routine treatment The technique of hypnotic intervention, scientists believe, is one of the safest for health, as it can reduce the consumption of drugs and thereby reduce the risk of side effects, the development of addiction or dependence. Researchers agree that hypnosis can be a useful tool in the complex treatment of, for example, metabolic disorders associated with increased appetite, inflammatory reactions and weight gain, sexual dysfunction in women, alcohol and drug addiction, Substance abuse, psychosomatic diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder, acute anxiety disorder, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia   and a number of others, as well as in providing palliative care to patients and their families. In particular, hypnosis has been shown to be effective in relieving symptoms of acute and chronic pain. Scientists from Italy and the UK conducted a meta—analysis of 85 studies to find out how effective hypnotic analgesia, an analgesic suggestion, can be. The review covered 3632 participants who suffered from various types of acute pain caused by colds, bruises, exercise, laser exposure, cold, etc. The results of the analysis showed that people with a high level of sensitivity were able to reduce pain by 42%, with an average level — by 29%. The authors concluded that hypnosis can be a good alternative to many pain medications. Italian researchers from the University of Verona, in turn, studied how hypnosis can help reduce pain in patients with severe chronic diseases and cancer. For two years, the experimental group underwent sessions of clinical hypnosis and self-hypnosis as adjunctive therapy, and as a result, they were able to significantly reduce the feeling of pain without using a large number of drugs. The control group, in contrast, increased their consumption of analgesics four times during this period. Hypnosis can be used as a means to relax, detach from pain, and change its perception. This technique is offered by many specialists to relieve pain during childbirth, for example. For example, researchers from Denmark trained 1,222 healthy women in self-hypnosis. It was noted that in the group using this technique, significantly fewer women asked to be given painkillers during the birth of children. However, further study is needed to obtain more evidence of the effectiveness of hypnosis in this area. People with burn injuries also experience severe pain, which often requires opioid medications. Hypnosis can also work better than many analgesics here. Australian scientists conducted a study for this purpose and found that such a technique can not only significantly reduce pain, anxiety and stress in patients, but also accelerate wound healing. The authors explain this by the fact that the levels of stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) decrease after sessions, and this helps skin and muscle cells to renew faster. The problem with hypnotherapy is that scientists still don’t fully understand how it works. But it is clear that in a hypnotized state, a person is able to influence his condition in some way. Many researchers believe that hypnosis uses the body’s innate ability to dull pain, as well as changes in activity in areas of the brain that regulate pain perception. The effect of exposure in this way is somewhat similar to that of a placebo, since both methods involve the same mechanics – the belief in a positive result. Why do most people still distrust hypnosis? Hypnosis, due to its lack of study, is shrouded in a “mystical aura.” Some claim that they became victims of fraudsters when they put them into a kind of magical trance and forced them, for example, to give away all the money. Others say that through hypnosis, you can make a person do anything, even commit a crime. The media plays a significant role in spreading these claims: very often, for example, on TV you can watch performances by pop artists who constantly make people undress, laugh uncontrollably, bark like dogs and do various things. The 19th-century novel Trilby, written by the English writer George du Maurier and subsequently adapted into films, also contributed. The main character is the music maestro Svengali, who uses magic, telepathy and hypnosis to subdue the will of the girl he loves. Hence the understandable fear: when patients are offered hypnosis as a treatment, many people think that they will most likely be controlled and forced to do stupid things, so for obvious reasons they refuse. But is it really possible to hypnotize a person so that he succumbs to negative suggestion and begins to act against his will, that is, to achieve the Svengali effect? Most scientific studies suggest that a person is able to resist suggestion from the outside. Scientists from the Ohio State University (USA) have found that in a state of hypnosis, people behave as they see fit — in other words, if a person thinks that it would be better not to succumb to suggestion, then hypnosis will not be effective, and, conversely, if suggestion corresponds to interests, then it will be easy to succumb to it. So, according to American experts, behavior in a state of hypnosis is more likely voluntary than forced, because the person decides for himself whether to obey the suggestion or not. Thus, even under hypnosis, you can control your own actions. But this, of course, does not mean that now you can relax and be sure that you will not be influenced, for example, by “criminal hypnosis.” Science, again, still cannot fully explain the mechanics of this phenomenon. You should not allow non-specialists or any suspicious individuals to put you or another person into a trance. Sessions may only be conducted by qualified doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists who have completed additional training. They should not only be proficient in this technique, but also understand the structure of the patient’s personality and the features of the course of his disease. Hypnosis in treatment is not at all aimed at depriving the patient of willpower and harming in any way. There is no point in following negative attitudes. Everyone wants the best for themselves and good health, so maybe it’s worth succumbing to positive suggestion? So far, the main limitation in the application of this technique is only the unwillingness of a person to change both psychologically and physiologically. But once the veil of distrust is lifted, positive changes will not take long to come. Photo: imgsmail.ru